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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23217631">Campfire Whispers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeanBean8/pseuds/BeanBean8'>BeanBean8</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Batfam Week 2020, Batgirl is in it, Cheating, Everyone is just talked about really, Gen, Limb loss, Not Canon Compliant, Only I’m not doing all of it and I’m late AF, but I don’t specify which one so you pick, but it’s not graphic I promise, dark au, general blood and nastiness, idk how to tag this one, mentions of:, paralysation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:47:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23217631</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeanBean8/pseuds/BeanBean8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Batfam Week Day 2: Dark Batfam AU</p><p>“So Stan, why’d you join up with Harvey?”</p><p>The Gotham bats inspire both adoration and hatred in the hearts of local Gothamites. In most criminal’s cases, it’s hatred.</p><p>So what led five of Two Face’s thugs to guarding a weapon stash in the dead of night?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Campfire Whispers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So Stan, why’d you join up with Harvey?”</p><p>The blonde man in question shrugged and reached his hand out, making a grabbing motion. A bottle of beer was handed to him, and he took a gulp of it, staring into the fireplace.</p><p>The gang was holed up in a warehouse, keeping an eye on Two-Face’s weapon stash, making sure no one came poking around before the boss’ plan was ready. Not that they knew what the plan was yet, but it was an easy job so far so they were content. Just the five of them, a crackling campfire, and a multipack of beer to pass the time with.</p><p>“Batman.”</p><p>The others let out a breath and looked sympathetically at him. Nick patted his back reassuringly.</p><p>“I used ta run a meth lab with my brother, he dealt with the actual sciency bit, y’know. I was just the muscle, kept the little guy safe. Anyway, we were just doing our usual thing, making meth, drinkin, pizza, that sorta stuff, and the Bat turns up.”</p><p>Stan took a deep breath before sipping some more beer. This was normally where he’d stop, but everyone was looking at him intently, leaning forwards towards him.</p><p>“Now I’m a dumbass, so I try and fight the guy. Not two seconds later, and I’m on the floor spittin blood. My brother, he tries to run, but I dunno how far he got, felt something hit my head and I was out. Woke up in a warehouse near the docks tied to a chair. Bat started shoutin at me, asking me about who we were selling to and all that. I didn’t know any of that, I was just the muscle, but he goes and pulls out this bat knife thing.”</p><p>“Batarang.” Tony said. Ralph punched him lightly in the arm.</p><p>“Let the guy finish.”</p><p>Stan chuckled nervously. He glanced down at his hands, and watched his right hand shake and twitch. His left hand, he didn’t dare look at.</p><p>“Well, Batman takes out his batarang. And outta nowhere, he cuts one of my fingers off. I was screaming my head off, but the guy kept shouting, asking me all these questions. But he didn’t stop, and after a minute or so, he cut off another one. And another one.”</p><p>He held his left hand up and pulled off his glove, waving a hand that now only held his index finger and a thumb, as well as three heavily scarred stumps. The others stared in shock. Nick, noticing Stan’s bottle was empty, handed him another.</p><p>“I guess by then he thought I was still holding out on him. He turns my chair around, and on the floor is my lil’ bro, all tied up. The Bat puts his foot on his back and starts pressing, keeps asking me questions. And then I heard this crack, and the bat just steps back.”</p><p>Stan paused and wiped his eyes, which were starting to tear up. Caden frowned.</p><p>“What happened next Stan?” He asked quietly, barely a whisper over the crackling fire.</p><p>“Batman said ‘I guess he didn’t know anything’ and walked off. I spent an hour trying to get myself free, and when I did, it was too late. My brother was paralysed. He can’t walk anymore. He never will again. The money I get from this job, I’m getting him a wheelchair…..”</p><p>For the next few moments, no one said anything. The fire crackled.</p><p>“Nightwing’s why I’m here.” Tony admitted suddenly.</p><p>“I was running for the Penguin at the time. Couldn’t stand the guy, but he paid well, and I was just outta Blackgate. And we were trying to rob a bank, stupid idea in hindsight. But anyway, there we were, I was shoving cash into bags in the vault. And Nightwing turns up.”</p><p>A shudder ran over him. Stan gave him a small, encouraging smile.</p><p>“He has these sticks. Like batons, and they have these things at the end that shock you. Hit me with one, as you’d expect. Had one hell of a shock, and I hit the floor. Thought that was that, then he hit me again. And again. And again. And he didn’t stop. But I guess that’s not the worst part.”</p><p>“What was the worst then?” Ralph mumbled.</p><p>“Before he left, he looked down at me, flopping like a damn fish on the floor. And he smiled, and said ‘Tell your wife I said hi’. The bastard slept with my wife.”</p><p>The others stared at him in stunned silence. It wasn’t exactly the ending they had been expecting.</p><p>“Red Hood.” Ralph blurted out. </p><p>Everyone stared at him, before they understood. Ralph had always been twitchy about vigilantes, more than everyone else. It was no wonder he’d had an encounter with one.</p><p>“It was ages ago, back when I worked with the Joker. I was there the night the Hood killed him.”</p><p>Nick cursed under his breath, giving him a strange look.</p><p>“Yes, I know it was stupid to work for the guy, I know he was a psycho. But I just needed a quick job, just enough for rent money. And I wasn’t expecting to work for Joker for long.” He shook his head and stared at the floor.</p><p>“We were at Amusement Mile, Joker was there spouting his usual nonsense, cackling about this plan he had to ‘ruin the bats forever’, acting like this plan wouldn’t be a complete failure like literally every other scheme he tried. Out of nowhere, he starts laughing wildly, and we all look around and there he is. Red Hood. The bat that kills.”</p><p>He shakily withdrew a cigarette from his pocket and held it to the fire to light it. Keeping his gaze on the lit tobacco, he took a deep inhale before exhaling a puff of smoke.</p><p>“He doesn’t even talk, he just starts to shoot us. Flipping around, sending punches and kicks, but mainly he’s shooting. I wouldn’t call it a fight, I’d call it a massacre. Everyone’s on the floor, either dead or dying. I’ve got a gunshot in my shoulder and my thigh, bleeding everywhere. And he walks up to me. Stares down at me, I mean I can’t see his eyes, but that hood is just looking down at me. I thought I was dead.”</p><p>Ralph shook his head and took another deep inhale of tobacco, trying to calm himself. It wasn’t working.</p><p>“But then the Joker starts shouting something about explosions and Ethiopia, I don’t understand any of it, but it winds Hood up. So he marches up to Joker, picks up this crowbar, and he beats the clown to death with it. Joker was laughing through the whole thing, but Hood didn’t stop beating him. And then he left, and I thought that was it.”</p><p>“It wasn’t?” Stan frowned.</p><p>“No.” Ralph sighed “I got arrested, ended up in Blackgate. When I got out…. I got home and found my wife in hospital, and she was missing an arm. Said the Red Hood wanted to give me a warning I’d never forget. She never forgave me, moved to Florida a few weeks later.”</p><p>“Holy shit. And I thought Red Robin was bad.” Nick blinked.</p><p>“You fought Red Robin?” Tony exclaimed, staring at him.</p><p>“Yeah, back when I ran with Riddler’s guys. He had some elaborate trap set up for Batman, but Red Robin turned up instead. Boss was pissed, started shouting at us to fight him. So we did, no surprise we got our asses kicked. That wasn’t the bad bit though.” He smirked.</p><p>“Didn’t you spend a load of time in Blackgate?” Tony asked. Nick nodded.</p><p>“I did. And when I got out, it was hell. All my accounts were gone, my bank details gone, my house was gone, my goddam birth certificate gone. Everything I owned, every single document with my name on it, gone. Like I never existed. Any hope I had of quitting, gone. Not even my fake ID’s can go get a bank account. Hell, I can’t even sign up for an email.”</p><p>Stan let out a low whistle. “Could be worse.”</p><p>“How?” Ralph asked quietly.</p><p>“At least none of us have run into Batgirl.” Stan replied flatly.</p><p>They all shuddered, glad the only experience they had with the girl was through the stories of others.</p><p>“Didn’t Andrew meet Robin?” Nick pointed to the man in the corner who had been silently nursing a bottle of rum for the entire conversation.</p><p>Andrew nodded and pulled down his scarf to reveal a thin scar crossing his throat. He didn’t need to explain.</p><p>And neither did he have time to explain more, as at that very moment, Batman descended from the ceiling.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Was totally planning on doing Batfam Week, but I got seriously sidetracked so now I only have one and a half actually half decent fics. I’m working on the other one, since corona has closed my school I don’t have much else to do in my time.</p><p>I have a tumblr now! https://www.tumblr.com/blog/bean-bean-8<br/>Come talk to me!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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